A new dual-diagnosis mental health unit at Mission Hospital Laguna Beach was a big winner in a Fund the Need Challenge during the hospital’s 21st annual Holiday Gala held earlier this month with $600,000 raised for the cause.
The keynote speakers were former Rhode Island Congressman and founder of The Kennedy Forum and One Mind, Patrick J. Kennedy and Kay Warren, co-founder of Saddleback Church. Both shared personal and family struggles with mental illness and urged the community to partner with Mission Hospital to build new programs to treat chemical dependency and mental illness. They called on community members to treat mental illness with the same dignity and respect that other diseases are given.
The new unit at Mission-Laguna Beach will be the only one of its kind in Orange County and will primarily serve young adults between the ages of 18-29 years.
Additional funds raised at the gala will be directed to the hospital’s seven clinical institutes.
